They say the fact the City will be left in a monopoly position and a car park that offers substantially cheaper rates is to close will obviously disadvantage airport users, not to mention the eight car park workers who will be on the dole.

In an open letter posted on their Facebook page, company boss Lawrence Boal said he wanted to “express my disappointment and anger at your statement backing the rejected appeal decision for Boal Car Park”.

In the statement Mr Durkan said he accepted the decision to dismiss the appeal against the planning application, adding he did “not consider that the public has in anyway been disadvantaged”.

Mr Boal said the decision to effectively close his business “doesn’t seem to make any sense to the outraged members of public in Northern Ireland, our customers and the eight full time employees who will lose their jobs and may end up costing the state money due to having to claim unemployment benefits (surely in itself being a disadvantage to the public)”.

He added: “You had a chance to help a local family run business to continue to operate, saving eight employees jobs and livelihoods, whilst also helping the people of Northern Ireland not have to suffer a monopoly of car parking services at Belfast City Airport.

“You have helped take away their right to a choice.”

The open letter to Mr Durkan also came as the Boal operation launched an online petition to garner public support for their bid to stay open.